Analysis Of David Brooks 'Humility Code'

Every day, people all across the world struggle to find their purpose in life. Having a purpose is what drives people to wake up every day, and to push themselves to do things that will ultimately benefit them. In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, struggles a lot with finding his purpose and going about fulfilling it in the correct way. He becomes obsessed with avenging the death of his father, and loses sight of his sanity and his relationships. This is very closely related to David Brooks’ “Humility Code”, a chapter from his book, A Road to Character. David Brooks is a critically acclaimed cultural commentator who works for the New York Times, and in this chapter, he outlines how people should live their lives.

In Hamlet, Hamlet allows himself to lose those relationships in order to pursue his plot for revenge. Instead of leaning on those he loves in his time of grief, he instead pushes them away and isolates himself. When speaking to Ophelia, he says, “I loved you not”, which insinuates that he never has loved her, despite the fact that he cares deeply for her (3.1.). This idea that Hamlet would rather push away those who care about him in order to pursue this revenge directly relates to a core part of Brooks’ “Humility Code”. Code number two states that people “know what is deep and important in life, but (they) still pursue the things that are shallow and vain” (Brooks 108). Despite the fact that Hamlet was hurting those who cared for him, he still decided to continue to pursue his revenge. By losing sight of what is important, Hamlet not only hurts himself, but also those he cares about, which ultimately leads to his untimely

Hamlet’s excessive pride leads him to decide to avenge his father’s death by murdering his uncle. Throughout the play, Hamlet believes that he is superior to others, and that they are easily fooled by his words. When Polonius asks Hamlet if he will leave with him, Hamlet responds with, “Into my grave” (2.2.). This is a representation of how prideful Hamlet is. He would rather die than leave with Polonius. He would rather avenge the death of his father and push everyone away, than lean on those who care for him. This quote foreshadows his death, and in the end, it is his fault. Hamlet’s sense of pride is again closely related the the ideas in the “Humility Code”. The fifth code states that, “pride blinds us to our own weaknesses and misleads us into thinking we are better than we are” (Brooks 109). Hamlet believes that he will be able to kill Claudius and get his revenge. This belief clouds his thoughts and becomes his sole purpose. He loses sight of what is truly important, and it causes him to make rash decisions. His pride leads him down that path that in time, leads to his